


the summer that started to run

by tokiwas



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Act 6 Spoilers, Gen, misumi appears for a while too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:01:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21673357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tokiwas/pseuds/tokiwas
Summary: tsukushi high school makes it to baseball nationals in kumon's final year of high school
Relationships: Hyoudou Kumon & Yamaguchi (A3!)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 25





	the summer that started to run

**Author's Note:**

> this fic has been stuck in my drafts for a while, but finally it's finished. it's nice to write a3! again after a long time! 
> 
> i understand that en version just started, so unless you're spoiled for act 6, please proceed with caution!
> 
> title from seiten no sinker

The numbers flash on the scoreboard, and it’s Tsukushi High School’s win.

An eruption of sound comes from Tsukukou’s side of the stadium, cheering squad and normal students alike all screaming in victory. It takes the cheer captain a long moment to finally compose himself, and they begin to do their choreographed chants, singing praises about their baseball team.

Kumon takes a break from cheering to catch his breath, watching the baseball team come together to celebrate. He can hear their screams, their shouts of delight. Yamaguchi and the other third years form a huddle, while the younger players crowd around them. The cheerleaders and cheer squad from Tsukukou continue to chant and cheer in delight and pride, their school name shouted out again and again.

Back in first year, Kumon had imagined this very moment; winning that one crucial game and listening to the cheering squad sing in victory. It’s reality now. It looks just like how he imagined in the past. Except now, the cheers are louder, and his teammates sound further away. They aren’t even his teammates anymore.

But it doesn’t matter, he thinks, as he clings to his schoolmates and shouts with all his might, echoing the cheers of the cheering squad. He’s too happy to care.

After all, Tsukushi High School Baseball Club has finally made it to Koshien.

**

Once the celebration is over, Kumon shoves through crowds of students and heads straight for the locker room. On the way, he bumps into Misumi, who’s admiring a triangular shaped rock.

“Sumi-san!” Kumon exclaims, voice hoarse from all the cheering. “Where are all the others?”

“Everyone else went home, but I wanted to wait for Kumon,” Misumi replies. “Aren’t you glad? Tsukukou’s going to Koshien!”

“I am, I am!” The memory of the numbers on the board makes Kumon excited again, and he can’t help but jump in delight. “I’m going to see my friends! Come with me, Sumi-san!”

The two of them walk towards the direction of the locker rooms, passing heartbroken and cheering students alike. When he enters the room, his old teammates notice him, and they give a huge cheer.

“Kumon!”

“Hyodo! You came!”

“Did you see us? Weren’t we amazing?

“We did it!”

The familiar sound of his teammates almost brings Kumon to tears, for some reason. Perhaps it’s because they still remembered him fondly, even though he had quit. As he laughs amongst them, he notices Yamaguchi, emerging from a crowd of admiring kouhai and heading straight towards him.

Just the person Kumon came to see.

“Yamaguchi, you were so damn cool! When you- and you- and you-!!”

Kumon’s words are cut off as Yamaguchi flings his arms around him.

“We did it! We made it to Koshien!”

Yamaguchi is crying, judging by the way he’s speaking. It’s their last high school year, of course he’d be emotional. Their last chance to get to Nationals, and they finally made it.

 _They. We._ The words float around in Kumon’s head, and unsettles him slightly. But he pushes it aside, and wraps his own arms around Yamaguchi, squeezing him tight.

“I’m so glad, Yamaguchi!” he says happily. “You were awesome!”

Yamaguchi exhales, the relief oozing through his sigh, and Kumon is suddenly attacked by memories; hours and hours of practice and countless stops by the convenience store on the way home and vow after vow of going to Koshien together, all with Yamaguchi. He’s glad, he’s so glad for Yamaguchi that an ache starts to blossom in the depth of his chest.

(An ache almost alike loneliness.)

“I knew you came,” Yamaguchi finally says, pulling apart from Kumon. His eyes are slightly red and Kumon knows better than to say anything about it; Yamaguchi had seen him bawling in his brother’s arms backstage of the final performance of his first play, after all. “I swear, I heard your voice amongst the cheer squad.”

“Well, if you heard it, it was me!” Kumon beams, tugging at Misumi’s sleeve from where he’s looking at a Sankaku-kun keyholder hanging from one of the bags in the dugout. “I came with Sumi-san today! He used to be from Tsukukou too!”

“Tsukukou were good today~” Misumi says in his usual, casual drawl.

As he breaks off into animated conversation with Yamaguchi about the game, Kumon notices that other people have come to visit the baseball team as well. A few students in school uniform and casual clothes, talking to the winners clad in baseball uniform. Without thinking, he glances down at his own jersey and sees the contrast between him and Yamaguchi. Unease hits him again, an unpleasant sensation he’s experienced many times in his bad dreams.

(The feeling of being left behind.)

“We have to pack up now,” Yamaguchi says, breaking Kumon out of his train of thought. “Our bus will be here soon. I’ll text you later or something.”

“Yeah.” Kumon smiles. “Congrats again.”

Yamaguchi clasps Kumon’s hand in farewell. As their hands meet, Kumon’s eyes widen.

“You forgot to take off your glove.”

“Oh shit, yeah.” Yamaguchi laughs. “I was just too damn excited, I think.”

Kumon doesn’t respond, eyes fixed on Yamaguchi’s gloved hand, pressed against his bare one. A horrible feeling wells up within him, one he refuses to name.

“You alright?” Yamaguchi asks, eyeing Kumon warily. Kumon quickly nods.

“Yeah! I was just thinking your hand is probably really sweaty and gross right now. Take the glove off, jeez!”

Other members of the team start to tease Yamaguchi, and Kumon takes the opportunity to leave. As him and Misumi leave the dressing room, he gives the team a big grin and a wave. His old teammates wave back, while others just continue to pack and talk amongst themselves. They all look delighted, exhausted, a perfect picture of a team whose dreams have just came true.

(A team without Kumon.)

“Kumon, what’s the matter?” Misumi asks. “You don’t look happy.”

Kumon just shrugs. He doesn’t understand his reaction when he saw Yamaguchi’s gloved hand against his own bare one. He’s happy, he knows he’s happy for Yamaguchi, for his old teammates, for the whole team. But that ugly feeling is still there, burning in his chest, despite the fact that his friend’s dream just came true.

Why does he feel so negative about it?

“…It’s nothing,” he says. “I’m just tired out, I think.”

“Kumon cheered so hard.” Misumi pats his head. “We could all hear you from the back of the stands!”

Kumon lifts his lips up slightly at the compliment, and they walk back to the train station together. Their footsteps thud across the pavement, and Kumon can’t help but notice how empty it sounds, the pair of them, compared to the memory of two years ago, where the sound of multiple footsteps echoed across the dressing room floor, the sound of loud chatter filled the air. The sound of a baseball team, heading home after a victory.

He’s not part of that baseball team anymore.

**

The sky starts turning pink by the time the both of them reach home. Misumi goes to look for Tenma, claiming that they were supposed to try a new triangle ice cream together. Kumon takes a shower, and returns to their room, trying to stave off the negative emotions brewing inside him.

Tsukukou’s made it to Koshien. His high school, attending the pinnacle of high school baseball tournaments. For the huge crowd of purple jerseys in the stands, cheering squad and students alike, it’s the perfect summer.

But despite his happiness and pride for the team, he can’t help but feel-

His phone rings. It’s a call from Yamaguchi.

Kumon has to take a deep breath before he answers the phone.

“Yamaguchi?”

“Kumon.”

There's a silence after his name is uttered. Kumon attempts to break it before the atmosphere turns awkward.

"Congrats on making it to Koshien," he tries.

The sound of a soft exhale echoes over the speaker.

“I just wanted to say, uh. Thanks for coming today. I know like, you quit, and I got mad, but… I’m glad you came.”

Yamaguchi sounds hesitant, but gentle, and genuinely happy. Kumon fights the bitterness in his chest, and answers.

“Of course I’d come,” he says. “It was your last chance. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

There’s a long silence, before Yamaguchi asks.

“You’re coming to watch us, right?”

The words “of course” catches in Kumon’s throat, unwilling to be spoken. Despite that promise made a year ago, he can’t say it.

Because he knows that if he goes to Koshien and watches their game, he’ll be jealous. Just like how jealous he was watching his old teammates celebrate as he left the stadium. The jealousy in his heart that burned, no matter how hard he had cheered them on, no matter how hard he had celebrated their win. Because he-

He wants-

He wants to play in the Koshien too.

He knows, it’s greedy to still clling on to that wish, even though Akiyama had already taken his brother to Koshien a year ago. But still-

Kumon has always been a selfish person.

He jeopardised everyone in the high school baseball team by joining, even though he knew there was a chance he would get a fever like before. He quit without telling them, even though they could have helped him if he told them about his condition. He joined the theatre troupe because he wanted to be with his brother, even though he knew he could have gotten a fever and ruin the play.

He still wishes to go to Koshien, even though he had hurt his teammates; in little league, in middle school, in high school. He still dreams of hurting them again.

“Sure,” he finally says. “I’ll be there.”

“Looking forward to it,” Yamaguchi replies. Kumon remembers the sound of his toss hitting Yamaguchi’s glove, and swallows hard.

“Tsukukou, fight-oh!”

“Yeah. We’ll definitely win!”

Can Yamaguchi hear it too? The yearning that he doesn’t deserve?

“I have to go now,” Yamaguchi says. “We’re having dinner with the team. Coach’s treat. Talk to you soon.”

“Yeah. Talk to you later.”

The moment the call ends, Kumon hides his face in his arms.

He wants to play in Koshien. He want to form a battery with Yamaguchi again. He wants to be part of a baseball team again.

He wants, he wants, he wants. But Kumon has long known that there are dreams that can only continue to live as dreams.

So he breathes in, breathes out. Waits until the stinging in his eyes abates.

The heat of his fever. His teammates blaming him for the loss. Yamaguchi’s rage when he quit. Yamaguchi promising to make it to Koshien. The scoreboard blaring out Tsukushi High School’s win. The view from the sidelines, so different and lonely to how it feels on the mound. The glaring memory – bare hand against glove, school jersey next to baseball uniforms; parting from the team to walk home with Misumi. His dream in Yamaguchi’s hands, and him – he’s always been fated to be left behind.

Finally, he lifts his head.

Outside, the sun sets. Inside, triangles line up across the room; soft toys, figurines, chocolate bars, odds and ends. Kumon thinks of his brother’s eyes, and remembers the one dream that did come true, despite the others he had to let go of.

Dreams that come true, dreams that don’t. Dreams that change shape and take different forms. New dreams that come to life, after the death of old ones. Kumon is selfish and still keeps the ashes of his old dreams to his chest. But there are new dreams within him, shaking the soot off their fiery feathers and preparing to take flight.

Even without playing in the Koshien, even without the youthful glory of childhood dreams, summer still isn’t over. 

The silence is broken as Kumon’s phone buzzes. It’s a LIME message from Tenma, telling him to come for practice. Kumon stands up and leaves his jealous thoughts behind, hidden under the covers of his bed. They’ll probably resurface later, at night, tomorrow, anytime when he’s unaware. Maybe he’ll sleep in his brother’s bed tonight, and leave those thoughts covered until he’s ready to face them again. But now, he heads out the door, checking the calendar on his phone and marking the dates of the first few days of Koshien. He’ll be there, no matter how jealous he’ll feel.

Because Yamaguchi had come to watch his first play. And the next one. And the next one.

Yamaguchi had come to see Kumon’s summer – burning bright, running fast, unable to be stopped.

It’s only fair that Kumon comes to see Yamaguchi’s.

For the both of them, on the mound, and on the stage, summer isn’t over.

It’s dark outside, but Kumon doesn’t mind. The sun will rise again tomorrow, and the morning glories will continue to twine, in all of its fleeting love and strong bonds, climbing towards the sun.

**Author's Note:**

> meanwhile the rest of summer troupe are planning a surprise to cheer kumon up in the training room... because that's exactly what they'd do lmao


End file.
